Freya’s Wheel

A California native, Sarah Marcus worked in radio broadcasting and the music industry before discovering what she calls her “ultimate love,” cheesemaking. After working behind the counter at Cowgirl Creamery’s Ferry Building shop and apprenticing as a cheesemaker in our Point Reyes creamery, Sarah honed her skills at goat dairies in Great Britain and North Carolina. She launched Briar Rose Creamery with her husband, Jim, in 2010.

Located in Dundee, Oregon, Briar Rose Creamery uses milk from nearby Tideland Dairy in Tillamook to make an array of fresh and aged goat cheeses. Though distinctly American, Freya’s Wheel is a bloomy-rinded cheese that was developed as a cross between two European classics: Garrotxa, an aged Spanish goat cheese, and Ticklemore, a softer English goat cheese created by Robin Congdon, one of Sarah's cheesemaking mentors.

Named for the Norse Goddess of Love and Prosperity, Freya’s Wheel has a semi-soft paste dotted with small eyes, and a lovely balance of sweet, salty and savory flavors, from tropical fruit to butterscotch to white mushrooms.